All men are born equal... some are more equal than others
I recently saw "Boys don't Cry" which I am sure as you all know, is the story of a transgendered man called Brandon Teena (born Teena Brandon) and his sexual identity crisis.
The movie is dark and as is true of most other movies (Fire, Salaam Bombay and Brokeback Mountain) which discuss human sexuality are and as is also true of these other movies, the performances are superlative. Althought the story has been fictionalised to an extent (from what I found out after reading up a bit on the Life of Brandon Teena), to make the subject palatable to society, the movie does retain many of the facts as they are. In the context of society, this movie is important because it introduces facts to the masses.
I feel that this movie has been a breakthrough towards a greater acceptance of people with alternate sexual orientations and identities especially in a society that barely acknowledges their existence. Gender issues have always been tricky for the media to handle and difficult for society to digest. But society is waking up to reality, what with mass media introducing these topics. I say this in the context of movies like Fire and Brokeback Mountain. It is one thing when the media regularly takes up these issues (for whatever money minting intents they have; I guess that's a good thing because it creates awareness) but the common man's understanding and comfort with the issue is quite another.
Most people are too busy with routine problems that they face in their daily lives (Oh I need to buy bread... the kids will be hungry; I better fuel up ... don't want to get stranded on a busy mumbai street ... what with the rains you never know...) to even imagine the existence of these subcultures. Society still hasn't woken up to these realities. For most people... sexual identity is well defined and subsequently not given much thought. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. There's no two ways about it.
What about alternate identities? Is gender binary? Most of our experiences tell us that it is. But take a longer look, scratch beneath the surface and suddenly one realises that it need not be binary. There are people with sexual identity crises. And yes, they are human too, no different from you and me otherwise. Yet do we acknowledge their existence? Can any of us imagine living in a society where no one else acknowledged our existence?
Forget society for a moment... how would an individual deal with this? Can you even begin to imagine what it might be like... to live a lie everyday of your life? Can you imagine what it might be to live in fear... that you might get "caught" anytime? A classic clash of social and individual interests... and the result is often unpredictable. Some people choose to defy society, while others defy their individual needs. In both cases, in an unforgiving, unaccepting society it is a trial by fire.
Research is throwing up clues on gender and gender associations indicating that these are innate. Sexual orientation, then is not a choice. But, this may not be the final verdict on the issue. Human behavior is way too complicated, given that humans are social and cultural animals.
The movie is dark and as is true of most other movies (Fire, Salaam Bombay and Brokeback Mountain) which discuss human sexuality are and as is also true of these other movies, the performances are superlative. Althought the story has been fictionalised to an extent (from what I found out after reading up a bit on the Life of Brandon Teena), to make the subject palatable to society, the movie does retain many of the facts as they are. In the context of society, this movie is important because it introduces facts to the masses.
I feel that this movie has been a breakthrough towards a greater acceptance of people with alternate sexual orientations and identities especially in a society that barely acknowledges their existence. Gender issues have always been tricky for the media to handle and difficult for society to digest. But society is waking up to reality, what with mass media introducing these topics. I say this in the context of movies like Fire and Brokeback Mountain. It is one thing when the media regularly takes up these issues (for whatever money minting intents they have; I guess that's a good thing because it creates awareness) but the common man's understanding and comfort with the issue is quite another.
Most people are too busy with routine problems that they face in their daily lives (Oh I need to buy bread... the kids will be hungry; I better fuel up ... don't want to get stranded on a busy mumbai street ... what with the rains you never know...) to even imagine the existence of these subcultures. Society still hasn't woken up to these realities. For most people... sexual identity is well defined and subsequently not given much thought. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. There's no two ways about it.
What about alternate identities? Is gender binary? Most of our experiences tell us that it is. But take a longer look, scratch beneath the surface and suddenly one realises that it need not be binary. There are people with sexual identity crises. And yes, they are human too, no different from you and me otherwise. Yet do we acknowledge their existence? Can any of us imagine living in a society where no one else acknowledged our existence?
Forget society for a moment... how would an individual deal with this? Can you even begin to imagine what it might be like... to live a lie everyday of your life? Can you imagine what it might be to live in fear... that you might get "caught" anytime? A classic clash of social and individual interests... and the result is often unpredictable. Some people choose to defy society, while others defy their individual needs. In both cases, in an unforgiving, unaccepting society it is a trial by fire.
Research is throwing up clues on gender and gender associations indicating that these are innate. Sexual orientation, then is not a choice. But, this may not be the final verdict on the issue. Human behavior is way too complicated, given that humans are social and cultural animals.
posted by Hg @ 11:41 PM
4 Comments:
Mindblowing!! abe u have started off rlly well... guess you don't get bored quickly which is a highly likely proposition [:d]. Well the indians haven't so far voiced their opinions openly barring a few exceptions. In that case, reading ismat chugtai's works specially one of her stories "quilt" can be enlightening. The very fact that someone dealt with what was till then considered a taboo issue shows that its not that we indians aren't aware of the issue...but simply refuse to acknowledge its existence. Btw this happened many decades back
awesome ! was waiting for this since a long time !
I know you have a penchant for shady movies.
But still, the point about the average Indian waking up to these ideas was well illustrated.
But tell me Ghodke, if you are stuck in the rain, frustrated that you cant get anywhere, would you spend that time thinking about a sexuality crisis that you might have??
Sometimes, the "routine" problems are more pressing than those of what you have just mentioned.
@s3r
Thank you for your comments.
I agree that routine problems can be more pressing/urgent but I wish to point out that they need not be urgent. Afterall, all of us have been stuck in the rain innumerable times (given the kind of infrastructure we have in our cities), but do we remember every one of these occasions?
Contrast this to a hypothetical situation where you were one of these individuals in society who happen to face a gender identity crisis. The very nature of the issue makes it less urgent and more important. Would you not remember every single (or almost every single) struggle that you had to go through?
I like these "shady" movies precisely because they are bold enough to raise socially pertinent issues. I would anyday watch a dark movie, as against one in which all that the hero and heroine did, was to dance around a tree in fluorescent clothes.
Please forgive any confrontational tone that may come across. :)
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